The main airlines and airports, as well as national and international travelers, could face additional costs if services prior to cleaning are lost in Canada, says an aviation expert.
Pete Hoekstra, the United States ambassador to Canada, said Thursday that locations prior to cleaning at Canadian airports are seeing numbers in decline, as he travels to the United States outside Canada, this year. The ambassador raised the idea that the United States may need to reassess offering the service.
“We are no longer sure to be able to make the numbers work … Prepelliagar is something that is done at the expense of the US government.
“Know, [if] You can no longer make the numbers work, they are all business people. You know what that means. You have to take a look at some of these things. “
The United States ambassador, Pete Hoekstra, told a crowd in the Global Business Forum in Banff that, as locations prior to cleaning throughout the country, the decrease in numbers, Washington could reevaluate the program.
Previous pre -desecia allows travelers to clear US customs in Canada before the approach, so that they can avoid waiting in longer alignments in the busiest airports south of the border.
The first airport that offered the US. UU. It was in Toronto in 1952. It started first to make us travel more attractive to Canadians, said John Gradek, professor of aviation management with McGill University.
The service is now offered at Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Halifax, Winnipeg and Ottawa airports.
Customs and border protection of the United States operates 15 locations prior to cleaning in six countries: Canada, Ireland, United Arab Emirates, Bermuda, Bahamas and Aruba. The department says it preferred more than 22 million travelers in 2024, which represents almost 16 percent of all commercial air passengers traveling to the country.
Declining the trip
Both Air Canada and Westjet have significantly promoted flights to the US. Airlines also promote this benefit for American travelers, who can use pre-colliousness to go through customs more efficiently when they return home of international destinations such as London or Tokyo.
“[Pre-clearance] For passengers who arrive at congested airports in congested time frames he is a winner, “said Gradek.” So Westjet was obtaining a significant volume of traffic out of California [for example]connecting in Calgary to its international services. “
Gradek added the same could be said of Air Canada flights to the United States from Toronto, Vancouver or Montreal, and that Hoekstra comments have a lot of risk to airlines seeking to attract traffic. Although the popularity of US trips has decreased in Canada this year, Gradek said the main national airlines still see many trips reserved in the United States.
On Friday, Westjet spokeswoman Jen Booth said that the United States is still a significant market for the airline.
“As Canada continues to be the largest source of travelers to the United States, pre-clarity continues to be advantageous and an important element for the facilitation of cross-border travelers for Canada and the United States, by significantly reducing the congestion at the entrance points in the US. UU.” Booth said by email.
US expenses to execute pre-clarity
The prepellería can occupy a substantial space at Canadian airports, but it is the United States that mainly has the cost of it when paying the service personnel.
Gradek said that although it is difficult to say with certainty exactly how much the economy of the United States of previous precautionary gains financially, it is not difficult to see the general benefit for tourism.
“In principle, there is value, announcement, you don’t need much to discover what that value is,” said Gradek. “People are making trips to Las Vegas or Los Angeles or New York, and making those trips due to the convenience of precocure.”
The finance of busy airports in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal that see more flights in the United States will be more affected if it is lost prior to cleaning, said Gradek. But he pointed out that smaller airports in cities such as Edmonton, Halifax and Winnipeg will continue to be a significant impact if such decision leads more people to renounce the trips of the United States.
While the valuable real estate at Canadian airports would open for other uses if pre-clarity is eliminated, airports will probably lose the income of a decrease in travel in the United States.
